Dog Bite | Animal Behavior Expert Witness For Attorneys

Richard H. Polsky, PhD, CDBC Los Angeles, California

“Bringing the science of animal behavior to attorneys”

Animal behavior expert on dog bite attacks

Richard H. Polsky, PhD, CDBC Los Angeles, California

“Bringing the science of animal behavior to attorneys”

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Dog bite statistics and info for American Bulldog

The American bulldog, developed from the mastiff line, is a large, muscular dog. Dogs commonly weigh over 90 pounds. In recent years, the American bulldog has become a popular companion animal, and with this has come a dramatic increase the incidence of dog attacks on people by this breed. This author knows of no specific dog bite statistics for this breed, but there are many anecdotal reports suggesting an increase in attack frequency by American Bulldogs in recent years..

Nonetheless, American Bulldogs who are obedience trained and properly socialized at an early age, and derived from reputable breeders are likely to make excellent companion animals. Male American Bulldogs usually have greater propensities for certain types of aggression, such as displays aimed at challenging an owner.

Below are examples this author has gathered from online news sources. These examples illustrate the potentially dangerous or vicious nature of some American Bulldogs. However, information gathered from these reports is usually sketchy with regards to the dog’s socialization and training history, the source from which the dog was obtained, how the dog was maintained, the dog’s history of aggressive responding towards people, and detailed forensic analysis. Therefore, for any given case, it is difficult to draw conclusions about causal factors for the attack.

A 27-year-old man in Cody, Wyoming was hospitalized after being severely attacked by his two-year-old American bulldog. The incident happened when the man tried to get the dog to leave the room. The dog bit the victim on the hand and arm, and eventually it latched onto the victim’s arm and would not let go. The incident ended when the victim wrestled the dog to the ground, and then he shot the dog.